Emerson College Library: WR121: Research Writing: Academic Essay

What about books and movies on my topic?

Search the FLO Library Catalog to find books and audio visual materials related to your topic.

How do I choose a topic?

Discuss ideas with your professor, a reference librarian, or the Writing Center. Browsing reference books can also help you find an idea that's interesting to you.

Encyclopedia of American Cultural and Intellectual History
Call Number: [X] E169.1 .E624 2001
New Dictionary of the History of Ideas
Call Number: [X] CB9 .N49 2005
St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture

How do I wrap my mind around my topic?

Background information can help you contextualize your topic, adopt appropriate vocabulary and terminology, and support, refute, or define your assumptions.

Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
Collection of virtual encyclopedias with over 3 million entries from 300+ reference books in a variety of subjects.
Issues and Controversies This link opens in a new window
Current in-depth information on the most prominent and hotly debated issues of the day.
CQ Researcher This link opens in a new window
Weekly reports on topics of current interest, with pro and con arguments. Limited to 5 users at a time.

What articles have been written about my topic?

To find magazine, newspaper, and scholarly articles on your topic, consult the following databases. Remember to:

Connect words with"and," "or," and "not"
Use "quotation marks" to orcing phrases
Use the * to truncate keywords (ex. librar* = libraries, librarians)

Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new window
Full text coverage of social sciences, humanities, business, general science, and education.
Boston Globe This link opens in a new window
Full-text searchable articles from The Boston Globe, including articles from today's paper. 1980-present. Library holdings

Google News
Search and browse 25,000 news sources updated continuously.
Google Scholar
Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. Remember to set your scholar preferences to Emerson College to get full text of articles through many of Emerson's database subscriptions

JSTOR & ArtStor This link opens in a new window
Complete full-text runs of 10,000+ top scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Also includes ebooks and primary source documents. For expanded JSTOR access, register for a free eCard through Boston Public Library. For help, see the JSTOR users' guides.
Nexis Uni (previously Lexis Nexis Academic) This link opens in a new window
Newspaper articles, wire services, legal, broadcast, and business news. Includes Company Info Search with financials (for publically traded companies), executives, current company news, SEC filings, mergers and acquisitions. Complementary with Proquest News database.

How do I cite my sources?

Research and Citation - Online Writing Lab (OWL) of Purdue University
Authoritative guidance and examples for MLA, APA, Chicago, ASA, AMA, and IEEE citation styles. Includes advice on how to write and cite in specific disciplines, and best practices for using online citation generators. Hosted by Purdue University.
Zotero
Free open source tool for managing and storing citations, as well as attaching PDFs to related citations. Plugins for Chrome and Safari. Use an Emerson email address to set up a Zotero account, or add one to an existing Zotero account, to gain unlimited storage. Learn more about Zotero, including a Quick Start guide.

Writing & Citation Help

Writing & Academic Resource Center
Location:
216 Tremont St., 5thfloor
Hours:
Monday-Friday 9am to 5 pm
Appointments:
Stop by or call 617-824-7874